But will it actually happen? It's possible that - as with the 24 movie - we'll be treated to another endless string of interviews in which Kiefer tells us that the revived series has "a terrific script" with "a fantastic director in mind" and that now "it's just about scheduling".

On the off-chance that the Jack Bauer Power Hour does return to the small screen, here's our tips for Sutherland, exec producer Howard Gordon and the team - five things we do and don't want to see in the new episodes...

Chloe O'BrianI mean, obviously - it almost doesn't need to be said. She may not have been with the show until it's third season, but at this point, 24 without Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) seems almost unthinkable.

Bring back her husband Morris (Carlo Rota) too - a character whose potential was squandered by a miserable Day Six storyline that robbed him of the charm and humor he'd displayed the previous season.

Tony AlmeidaPoor Carlos Bernard - his CTU agent Tony Almeida never really got a fair shake of the stick. Despite being one of the show's longest-running and best-loved characters, his first exit from the series was so badly botched that the 24 writing team chose to bring Tony back from the dead...

But agent Almeida fared little better upon his return - implausibly transformed into a bloodthirsty villain, Tony ended up behind bars at the end of Day Seven. Let's bring him back for a redemption arc, eh?

Aaron PierceAlong with Jack, Chloe and Tony, one character who *has* to return if 24 does is Aaron Pierce - Glenn Morshower's staunchly loyal government agent appeared with varying degrees of screen-time in each of the show's first seven seasons and it was a travesty - a TRAVESTY - that he was left out of the action for the final run.

"We desperately tried to find a place to put him in and just could not find a place," Howard Gordon told us back in 2010 - with 24 apparently returning to the telly box, now's the chance to correct that mistake!

No nukesI think it's fair to say that we've all heard Jack yell, "Where is the bomb?!" plenty of times now. A terrorist running around with a nuclear bomb (or "nuclear materials") was one of 24's plot fallbacks - forming a large part of the second, sixth and eighth seasons - and, frankly, it became a little tiresome.

The most thrilling 24 plots centred on a different kind of threat - the virus in season three, the nerve gas in season five - so let's hope that if the show does return, Jack and CTU have to combat a more inventive menace.

No moles in CTUJamey Farrell, Nina Myers, Marianne Taylor, Spenser Wolff, Dana Walsh - haven't we had enough moles within CTU by now? And that's even without counting season seven's FBI mole Sean Hillinger (Rhys Coiro) or the countless 'suspected moles' like Day Three's Gael or Day Six's Nadia (Marisol Nichols).

Along with the nukes, the mole sub-plot is one of 24's fallbacks and the show could do with jettisoning this particular 'twist' when/if it returns...

Addendum: Oh, and no cougars or random bouts of amnesia either, thanks.

What do you want to see in the new 24 season? Share your hopes for the new season below!